


Let Me Love You

by NohrianNerd



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Cuddling, Emotional Hurt, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Mild Language, Non-Graphic Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Temporarily Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-06 00:27:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13399518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NohrianNerd/pseuds/NohrianNerd
Summary: Upon realizing he's fallen in love with not only one of the princes of Nohr, but both, Niles does what he can to keep his feelings a secret.He doesn't quite realize that his foolish actions only throw both princes into quite the circle of worry and concern.





	1. Chapter 1

Niles coughed violently as he limped towards the Nohr castle, blood oozing from the wound in his side. His muscles ached, and he contemplated the idea of just finding a nice area to sit down at and bleeding out.  
Surely, no one would miss him. What other reason did he have to live other than protecting someone who mostly didn’t need protecting?

“Lowly scum like me should die as such,” he managed before coughing up blood. He leaned against the nearest tree, shutting his eye as he slid down it. “Lord Leo can hold his own, especially with someone like Odin by his side…”

He covered his mouth as he coughed again, slightly opening his eye just enough to see the red that now stained his hand. He gave a weak smile, before giving a choked up laugh. “I’m finally given the death I deserve…”

Niles shut his eye again, relaxing his body while against the tree. “Goodbye, Lord Leo…”

**~~~~~~**

“Is he still alive?”

“His breathing is faint, but it’s there. His heart is still beating as well. He had one nasty wound…”

“Oh, thank the gods.”

“If you hadn’t found him, milord…”

“Don’t.”

“…Alright, milord.”

Xander’s attention turned to Niles as he slowly woke up, groaning as he slowly sat up. Xander rushed to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Careful, Niles… You might reopen the wound.”

Niles slightly looked at him, before shoving his hand off his shoulder, getting up from the bed. “Just let me die,” he muttered, before heading to the door, slightly limping. Xander frowned at this. “Leo won’t be happy to have you die, Niles.”

The archer shook his head, stopping at the door. “Nah, he’d be glad to not have to deal with trash anymore. Good day, Your Highness.”

“Niles, don’t you dare walk through that door. That is an order, and I expect you to follow it.”

Niles didn’t seem to like this, and growled quietly. “I just want to die, and you and everyone else keeps taking that away from me! I’m sick of living, nothing is worth it anymore! All those years of fighting for survival as a kid…they mean nothing now! All I am is some lowly thief who Lord Leo just wouldn’t kill!”

Tears were streaming down his face now, and Xander couldn’t help but notice how it was only one side that the tears fell from. Niles turned his head away, not wanting to look at the prince. “I’m going to my room…” He muttered, before limping off to the room he slept in.

**_~~~~~~_ **

Xander quietly knocked on the door to Niles’ room, wanting to check on him. “Come in,” Xander could just barely hear Niles say. He opened the door, stepping into the room and looking over to the bed, where he saw Niles laying with his back facing the prince.

One thing he noticed was how he didn’t have a shirt on, showing the bandages that were wrapped around his sides, along with all the different scars that littered the poor boy’s body.

“Niles… I’m sorry for earlier.” Niles slightly shifted to look at the prince, revealing that he didn’t have his eyepatch on either. His eye was red and puffy from crying, Xander noticed, and he looked so much like a scared, hurting child, who only wanted acceptance in the cruel world.

“You guys have it so e-easy,” Niles choked out, his voice cracking as he turned away from Xander again, “you don’t have t-to worry about where you’ll f-find your next meal, or if t-there’ll even be a next meal… You don’t have to w-worry about protecting yourself from t-the cruel winter w-weather…”

Xander walked over to the bed and sat on the edge of it, listening to Niles. “You d-don’t have to worry about whoring out j-just to survive…” That was quite a shocker to Xander, hearing it come from Niles’ lips.

He moved over to him, just enough to pull Niles close, grabbing a blanket and wrapping it around him so he wouldn’t be shivering so much. “I never knew you had such a rough childhood…”

Niles gave a choked laugh, before moving to where he was cuddled up to Xander’s chest. “No one ever does… Lord Leo doesn't, I've n-never told him... I just w-want to die like the l-lowly scum I am, M-Milord..."

Xander frowned upon hearing this, holding him as close as he could. "Get some sleep, Niles. We can talk later, when you're ready." "I j-just want to be a-accepted..." Niles whispered before letting himself fall asleep in the Crown Prince's arms, nuzzling himself closer to the blond. Xander carefully moved to where he was laying down, running his fingers through his hair as he stared up at the ceiling.

_I do have it rather easy compared to most of whom live in Nohr...don't I?_


	2. Chapter 2

"I do want to thank you, Milords, for bringing me with you. It's quite nice to be riding a horse." Niles seemed so calm, so relaxed, so much more like himself than he had seemed the night before, when he was crying and clinging onto Xander like the crown-prince was the only thing keeping him alive.

"It's nothing, just thought you might enjoy it." Leo looked at him with a slight smile, before focusing on guiding his horse so he didn't fall on his ass in front of Xander and Niles. Xander's laugh filled the air, and Niles' grip on the reigns tightened, his heart beating fast against his chest. However, something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he slowed his horse to a stop.

He got off, quickly opening the pack on the side, grabbing a few pieces of food, then headed to where he saw the two children crouching in the grass, behind a tree. When he approached them, they almost ran off, but saw the food in his hands. He smiled then crouched down, taking the sandwich that was made for him out of its bag and splitting it in half, giving the two pieces to the children.

One was a little boy, with dark hair and matching dark eyes. The other was a little girl, with dirty-blonde hair and hazel eyes. They were very skinny, the girl having dirt on her face. They both thanked Niles before each taking bites of the sandwich parts. Niles couldn't help but smile as he watched them, glad he was able to help.

Meanwhile, Leo and Xander were both now taking notice to the fact that a certain archer was no longer on his horse. They both looked at each other before stopping their horses and getting off of them. Xander was quick in getting Siegfried out of its scabbard, holding the sword tightly in his gloved hands. Leo got Brynhildr out of the pack he had put it in, then followed after Xander into the woods.

They heard laughter and followed the sound to where the source was. Neither of them expected to find Niles crouched near two children, giving them parts of his food, and telling them about things that've happened in the castle. The girl was laughing softly, while the boy was listening with a wide grin on his face. Niles stopped mid-sentence upon sensing Leo and Xander, his slight smile fading.

The boy was quick to scramble to his feet when he took notice to the blonds that were looking at them, and he ran off before Niles could stop him. The girl, however, quickly moved to hide behind Niles when he stood up to face Leo and Xander. 

"Well," Xander decided to speak first, "isn't this interesting." He put Siegfried back into its scabbard, seeing no need for it anymore. Leo, on the other hand, held onto Brynhildr as he narrowed his eyes at Niles. "You ran off without saying a word, Niles. You could've easily gotten in danger, and we wouldn't have been able to know where you were!" 

The girl held onto Niles' leg as she stared with wide eyes at the two royals before her. Niles gave a small laugh and crossed his arms. "I knew what I was doing, Milord. Besides," he crouched down to the girl's height, causing her to move to stand beside him, "lives like hers are more important than that of a lowly thief." Hearing Niles say that only seemed to make Leo even more ticked off. 

"Your life is just as important, Niles!" Xander placed a hand on Leo's shoulder to help calm him, before looking at Niles. "Why don't we discuss this back at the castle?" Niles looked at the girl before staring at the ground. He then sighed and slowly stood up. "Fine," he gathered what food he had grabbed from his pack, then handed it to the girl, telling her to use it for her and her family.

"Actually," Xander gave a small smile, "she can come with us." Niles looked at Xander instantly, his eye widening. He quickly looked away, and instead looked at the girl. "Go give this to your family, I'll be waiting here for you to return." The girl nodded quickly, holding the food so she wouldn't drop it, then turned and ran back to her village. 

Niles took a shaky breath before he slowly stood up again. "She won't have to suffer anymore...but there are still so many who do." He clenched his hands into fists, a few tears falling down his face. "Still so many that are forced to go through the same thing I did." Xander moved to stand by Niles, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Slowly but surely, Niles." He said quietly to him.

"Right...slowly but surely," Niles wiped away his tears, "I'll wait here for her to return, you can go back to the castle if you'd like." He glanced at Xander from the corner of his eye. Xander only gave him a small smile in return. "I'll wait for you by the horses," he then turned and headed back to the horses, Leo following behind. Once getting back to the horses, Leo put Brynhildr back into the pack he had it in then mounted his horse.

"Leo, you go on and head back." Xander spoke as he looked at Leo. The blond was going to protest, but saw the look on Xander's face and instead just sighed. "You better make it back uninjured," he muttered before heading back to the castle. Xander watched him, before moving to where he could keep an eye on the forest.

It was only a few minutes later when Niles emerged from the forest, with the girl on his back. He walked over to his horse and moved to where he could set the girl on the horse, before mounting the horse. He looked at Xander, before taking notice that Leo wasn't there. "Did he head back?" Xander nodded, then mounted his horse. "You ready?" He glanced back at Niles, who gave a small nod.

Then they headed off to the castle, the girl holding onto the reigns like Niles had told her to. 

Around being halfway there, Niles sensed a terrible presence and glanced around, slowing his horse down. He wasn't expecting a sudden blast of fire aimed at the ground near his horse's hoofs. This caused the horse to majorly freak out, and the girl's grip on the reigns tightened, her eyes widening. She felt an arm wrap around her waist and was pulled away from the horse and brought to safety.

When everything was more clear and they were able to see, Niles was nowhere to be seen. Xander was crouched near a tree, with the little girl in his arms, while gripping Siegfried. Their horses were nowhere to be seen either, and there was another blast of fire aimed at where they previously were. After that, there was nothing. Everything was...silent, minus the trees rustling in the wind and their heavy breathing. 

"...Lord Xander?" The girl looked up at him, a look of fear in her eyes. "Where did Niles go...?" Xander glanced at her, before looking around at their surroundings. "I'm afraid I don't know... Our horses ran off, unless we find them we'll have to continue travelling by foot." 

"W-we can't, not w-without Niles!" The girl quickly grabbed onto Xander's arm. "W-we must wait f-for him!" Xander sighed, before pressing his back against the tree. "Alright, alright. We'll wait for him..." 

Hours seemed to pass by, with no sign of Niles and no sign of the horses. Xander had learned the name of the girl, Alexia, and decided to tell her stories while waiting. She was now asleep in his arms, and he had at one point removed the cape he was wearing to place it over her as a blanket. He was starting to fall asleep himself, but the sound of twigs snapping underneath the weight of someone's feet jolted him from that.

He quickly reached for Siegfried, his eyes narrowing into the darkness. "Who dare goes there?" 

"Ah, so quick to point a sword at me," a familiar voice spoke, having a slight purr of amusement, "I guess I should expect such from Lord Xander~"

Xander's eyes widened when he registered who was there. "Niles, you're actually okay!" He stood up, careful to not wake Alexia with the movement, and sheathed Siegfried back into its scabbard. 

"And I bring the horses~" Niles walked closer to Xander, holding the reigns of both horses. He was so glad that it was dark, that way Xander couldn't see the blood that trickled down his face, and the blood that soaked the fabric of his shirt on his shoulder. "Let's get home, Milord. Your siblings must be worried."

The prince chuckled softly, before mounting his horse, making sure he was still holding Alexia. "Indeed, especially Leo." Niles mounted his horse as well, nodding in agreement, before they finally headed back to the castle after a long day.


End file.
